The Creepy Line

The first half of filmmaker M.A. Taylor’s alarmist documentary The Creepy Line outlines now-familiar charges regarding the commercial agendas and vulnerabilities of tech giants Facebook and Google. At this point, who doesn’t know that both companies have been monetizing the personal information users give them through searches and posts? Who doesn’t understand that Facebook tweaks algorithms so that users only see posts and news that reinforce what they have already told the social media giant they believe? Or that Facebook thus traps users in echo chambers where ideas are never challenged, and adversaries such as Russia can potentially sway votes? Is there a Google searcher who hasn’t figured out by now that the order of search results is easily manipulated? These are well-known issues (along with Facebook’s and Google’s infamous capacity for false news and propaganda), but the rest of the film crosses over into speculative scenarios about authoritarianism and the toppling of democracies. The word "if" starts to come up a lot, as in "if Facebook wanted to elect a particular nominee," or "if Google wanted to insert a fake scandal into search results about a politician." Granted, it is important to understand that big tech has the terrible power to destroy institutions if it were so inclined, and to acknowledge that the world has to decide how to put up firewalls to prevent that. But this film is less about advocacy for ethical and pro-democratic solutions to a possible time bomb, and more about further demonizing platforms that have already screwed up mightily. Still, widespread interest in social media issues makes this a strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)